This last bit comes up in way too many of my conversations. Even ostensibly anti-imperialist decolonial types will throw in the idea that China is can only be acting in Africa because they are benefitting from it, so it isn’t a positive development. Even the fact that African partners are getting genuinely important things out of these arrangements doesn’t make the material difference between Chinese diplomacy and imperial extraction clear.
This last bit comes up in way too many of my conversations. Even ostensibly anti-imperialist decolonial types will throw in the idea that China is can only be acting in Africa because they are benefitting from it, so it isn’t a positive development. Even the fact that African partners are getting genuinely important things out of these arrangements doesn’t make the material difference between Chinese diplomacy and imperial extraction clear.